rock star. they're drug addicted s std-riddled freaks. >> dana: you called me a rock star last week. >> eric: the boss said in the hallway gutfeld is a rock star. >> greg: he didn't. thank you for watching. be back here tomorrow. just like this. >> bret: we're live in time warner cable arena in sharp, north carolina. wild place in the past hour. a big change to document senior democrats called unimportant last night. good evening. i'm bret baier. this is "special report." a deeply divided democratic convention just passed a stunning reversal. rewriting hotly disputed platform language that omitted references to god and to jerusalem. as the capital of israel. but it was far from unanimous. the democrats needed two-third voice vote to pass the amendment putting 2008

language about god and jerusalem back in the democratic platform. here is what happened just moments ago. >> a those delegates in favor say aye. >> aye. >> all those delegates opposed say no. >> no. in the opinion -- let me do that again. all of those delegates in favor say aye. >> aye. >> all of those delegates opposed say no. >> no. >> i guess -- >> then you got to let them do what they are going to do. >> do that one more time. >> all those delegates in favor say aye. >> aye. >> all those delegates opposed say no. >> no. >> in the opinion of the chair, two-thirds voted in the affirmative. the motion is adopted.

and the platform has been amended as shown on the screen. >> bret: could have asked for roll call vote at that point. they didn't. the chair decided that was two-thirds. there were some boos as you heard there in the hall about that decision. now last night, here on "special report," i asked senate majority whip dick durbin about the remuel of "god" and jerusalem -- removal of "god" and jerusalem from the platform this year. durbin accused me and the network having an agenda by asking about the omissions. >> your conclusions are young if you're drawing them. >> i'm not. >> secondly, let me tell you the first president to recognize the state of israel was harry truman, a democrat. and every president since democrat and republican, has stood closely with israel. i know what is going on here. in an effort to justify shelby and the money he is spending to stand up to israel -- >> listen. >> the democrats and republicans are committed to

israel future and security. i'm one of them. >> understand. no republican took those words out of the democratic platform. so i'm just making a point. >> you're saying those two bulletins coming out means our relationship with israel changed? >> no, i'm just asking the question why it was changed. >> is that fair? >> bret: we asked senator durbin to come back on tonight or provide us a statement to read on air. his staff told us, "he's not going to be available." we will bring you a statement if one comes during this show. let's break that down. exactly what happened. senior national correspondent john roberts is on the convention floor. where it all went down a short time ago. good evening, john. >> good evening, bret. you were talking about that potentially coming to a roll call vote. the congressional producer was on the floor when all of this was going on and said they were just about to start up the computers and then antonio villaraigosa said this is accepted on a two-third vote. this was, i guess, in the truest sense of the world unforced error on the part of the democrats. the language had been in platform in 2008.

it's something that president obama believes in personally. in fact, he affirmed that to the apac conference when he was a candidate in 2008. this is something that is in the republican platform, something that mitt romney said on his recent july visit to israel. why those words, why the language was taken out is inexplicable. i talked to a number of democratic officials about it order to and they said they want the platform toe cussed op president obama unswerving commitment to israel security. as to why they took out jerusalem as the capital, none of them could say to me. it's back in again tonight. another controversy that erupted at exactly the same time when the language about "god" was taken out of the 2008 convention platform. talked about people being able to through the help of government reach their god-given potential. that was changed and people should be able to go as far as their own talent and drive could take them. i talked to some people about that today at the faith council. i talked to a local pastor who said they thought it should be in there. they don't doubt that the democratic party is the party

of faith and values. why they would take the word "god" out no one could explain either to them or to me. but here is the way that the obama campaign has come out there. saying it's a faux controversy trumped up by republicans, bret. but it should be said the republicans were not involved in the writing of the platform this year. >> bret: john roberts on the floor. john, thank you now. from charlotte, to vermont. after a few days off the campaign trail, the republican nominee governor mitt romney talked exclusively today with chief political correspondent carl cameron. a few hours before the democrats made their platform change. >> reporter: day two of the democratic national con vention and hours before the party reversed itself, mitt romney blasted democrats for having removed any reference to god from the platform. >> the founding document the declaration of independence references god. the motto "in god we trust." this is part of our heritage. i think their having removed purposefully "god" from their platform suggests a party

increasingly out of touch with the main stream of american people. this party is veering further and further away to an extreme wing that meshes don't recognize it. >> reporter: do you see it as the so-called war on religion? >> i see it being out of touch and attached. simply so far removed from the interests and the concerns of the american people that people look at this party and look at president obama and his leadership and see someone who is taking us in a direction which they don't recognize. >> reporter: romney interrupted preparation for debate with the president next month. before the democrats restored the language, he hammered them for deleting a passal about jerusalem being israel capital. >> the president ran in 2008, he said that jerusalem was the capital of israel. that was his posture at that point. that has also been the posture in the democratic platform. the president and his party have now changed their position. they now say that they're not certain what the capital of

israel might be. i find that one more example of israel being thrown under the bus by the president. i think it's a very sad day. when we have our best friend in the middle east, nation which shares our values. a nation somehow under extraordinary threat and distress when nations around it like syria, egypt are going through tumult of their own. for us at the stage like this, to take an action of that nature, to cease calling jerusalem the capital of israel. this is a very troubling development and one which will be recognized for what it is by people across america and across the world. >> reporter: during your convention, republicans ran a debt clock. during the democrat convention or an hour or so before it started the debt clock went to $16 trillion. what did that say about the current state of affairs in this country? >> there are two numbers you are not going to hear in the democrat convention. you haven't heard them yet. one is 16. for the $16 trillion of debt which we have now amassed. and the president came in

there was $10 trillion. the prior presidents combined amassed $10 trillion. he added $6 trillion to that. $16 trillion. unthinkable number. the other number you won't hear is the number 47. 47 million people have now been reported to be on food stamps. when the president came in there were 32 million. that is a 15 million-person increase. that is more than the population of ohio have been added to the roles of food stamps. the president's policies have not worked. either from a debt standpoint or the standpoint of helping those falling from the middle class to poverty. >> reporter: yet, the obama for america senior staff is arguing that people are absolutely better off than they were four years ago. >> no one in the convention so far has had the tu herty to say that -- tumerity to say people are better off in america. that's not the case. it's been a difficult four years and they're doing their best to celebrate something but celebrate for failure. >> reporter: if he doesn't "i" for incomplete, what do

you give him? >> that usually means you have to take the course again. i don't think the american people want the see the president get another four years. the last four years have not been good for middle class in america. no question to his policies led to more people falling out of the middle class to poverty. more people in poverty. one of the six. record number of people. on food stamps. 47 million. this is not a good time for the american people. anyone that wants to let him try it again would be making a big mistake. >> they didn't mention things being better off at least last night than four years ago but democrats say you didn't mention the troops, you didn't mention things overseas related to the u.s. military efforts. first time in 52 years they say that has happened. how come that happened? >> i actually went to the american legion the day before my speech. both the president and i were inviteed. i actually left the convention. went to the american legion and there talked about the troops, talked about the commitment to the military and talked about the commitment to the veterans. it had an opportunity to speak

at great length about the sacrifice of our troops. in my speech i also spoke about our military and my commitment not to shrink our military and how different that is from the decision of the president to slash our military by $1 trillion over this decade. >> reporter: this president's demic president bill clinton speaks. he has said kind things about you but tonight he might be less kind. and sa do you want a react to that? >> i'm not sure what president clinton will say, but there is no but that president obama decision to say we are going to allow waivers or excuses from work requirements in welfare was designed to shore up part of his base that may not be inclined to go out and vote in the same energy and passion as they did four years ago? i think putting a measure to take work out of welfare and

waiving the work requirement in welfare is extraordinary political move on his part. one i disagree with. my own view is that we should have greater work requirements with welfare. not less. when i was governor of my state, i moved more than once to increase our work requirements, because i happen to believe that work is dignified. that it's uplifting. and that we should not encourage a permanent lifestyle of living on welfare. >> he said much the same on the president's flip-flop earlier in year to support gay marriage. the decision to no longer enforce deportation orders on children of illegal immigrants brought here by their parents. >> there is no question that a great deal of what the president has done in several months has been designed to shore up his base. political in nature, as opposed to policy. when he ran for office he said in his first year his highest priority would be immigration reform. yet in his first year and second year, with a democrat house and democrat senate, he did nothing. no, he waited until a few

months before the election and then took a move of course is tetch rare in nature. it's not law. >> romney has been under fire for opposing the auto industry bail-out that turns out cost $21 million taxpayers than originally expected. >> my view from the beginning was the auto companies needed to go through a managed bankruptcy. and ultimately, that's what the president did. he finally took them through managed bankruptcy. but it took him six months to get there. in the six monthbes, they spent $20 billion that didn't need to be spent. they should have moved more quickly to manage bankruptcy. i'm glad they went through the process and they have come out. the support they got after bankruptcy was appropriate to give them the ability to get on their feet. extra $20 billion they lost was a mistake. >> reporter: i assume you thought ann's speech but better than michelle obama's speech? >> i didn't hear michelle obama's speech. but i heard ann's. >> you didn't watch? >> no. >> reason you curious about the opposition -- aren't you curious about the opposition or the opposition's spouse?

>> i'm focused to take my message to the american people. the words from the obama came pain might be delightful, delicious and diversionnary but they cannot paper over the record of the last four years. american people know things are tougher for them. >> regarding the dnc late decision to reverse itself and include language about jerusalem as israel's capital in the platform, the romney campaign is continuing to put pressure on the president himself. saying now is the time for president obama to state unequivocal terms whether or not he believes jerusalem is israel's capital. mitt romney still suggesting that mr. romney is not committed as his party is tonight. bret? >> bret: carl cameron live in vermont. thank you. president clinton is the big speaker tonight. brings to us the text to vote question. how will bill clinton affect the obama campaign? text sr1 to 36288 if you think he will help. sr2 if you think he will hurt. sr3 if you believe he will

have no impact. results later. next, the big venue change here in charlotte. plus, bill clinton's speech. at purina one,

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>> bret: democrat convention in charlotte, time warner cable arena where we'll spend much more time than originally planned. democrats are moving the president's acceptance speech inside. from the 74,000 seat outdoor football stadium. you are looking live at the bank of america stadium right now. they blame the chance of thunderstorms. whether it was really weather is up for debate. not up for debate the fact that mitt romney is raising significantly more money than the president. his people are concerned. chief white house correspondent ed henry is

following all of that from the obama campaign tonight. >> as president obama arrived here in charlotte, aides said he and his campaign team are deeply disappointed because of weather concerns they have to move thursday night acceptance speech from the outdoor bank of america stadium on the much smaller time warner center. leaving thousands of campaign volunteers from around the country broken-hearted about losing their seat. >> don't call us, we'll call you. we're hoping. disappointing. >> call it obama 2 holy spirit . forget the greek columns from the first acceptance speech in democrat with throng of 80,000 fans. the republican national committee used the #presidentdowngrade to suggest it was cover for the obama campaign struggling to fill seats. top democrats admit they were planning to bus people in from several states like south carolina and georgia they scoffed at the charge of lack of enthusiasm. >> i think that 65,000 people scheduled to come tomorrow probably disagree with that

and are disappointed they are not going to come to see the president. we're disappointed, too. the chance of severe weather, the chance of putting those people at risk was too high. >> will were other problems with top democratic sources telling fox that in closed door meetings here the president's team is expressing increasing alarm about mitt romney raising $100 million in august alone, which could give him a big essential in the final days. publicly they insist they're not worried about a last minute tv ad assault. >> the president is ahead or tied in every battleground state and ahead in national polls. at some point the ads have diminishing returns. >> sure-fire way to whip up enthusiasm is bring out former president bill clinton for the prime time slot that typically would have gone to vice president biden. clinton famously declared the era of big government was over and the last democrat or republican to balance a federal budget speaks 24 hours after the national debt reached staggering $16 trillion. >> that is the debt that paul ryan built. that's the dealt that the bush

administration built. >> a long tradition of the conventions of thousands of red, white and blue balloons raining down on the final night but i'm told they were planning to do fireworks at the outdoor stadium and they can't do it now but too late to order balloons. if you look t to rafters there are no balloons. it's too late to do that. so they are trying to figure out what to do to celebrate. the president will have a national convention call with tens of thousands of supporters tomorrow to try to make up for the fact they didn't get there. >> bret: ed henry live on the floor. thank you. stocks were mixed today, the dow was up 19-1/2. s&p 500 was down 1.5. nasdaq lost six. coming up, charles krauthammer on all things about the convention, including the latest change osthe platform by the democrats. first, the complicated relationship between barack obama and bill clinton. [ truck beeping ]

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>> bret: welcome back to charlotte. you can see the personnel there looking over the convention hall. to say that president obama and bill clinton have a complicated relationship is the biggest understatement of the convention week. so there is intense curiosity about what the former president will say tonight about the current one. here is chief washington correspondent james rosen. >> as of wednesday morning the former president was putting final touches on his seventh dnc convention address in 25 years. senior obama-biden aide said mr. clinton will lay the predicate for the president's speech on thursday sketching out where the country has been and the best path forward and rebutting governor romney charge that mr. obama gutted the welfare reforms mr. clinton enacted.

>> is it going to be a very strong speech. pro-growth democrat. reminding everybody in the democrat days we had a balanced budget and surplus. >> reporter: the election cycle has seen the superstar fundraiser, surrogateer and kibitzer in chief go off message on the bush era tax cut and romney's tenure at bain capital. >> a man who has been governor and sterling business career cross the qualification threshold. >> what it means they will have to put everything off until early next year. that is probably the best thing to do right now. >> tonight the former president will praise mr. obama decision-make progresses we as he has in the campaign ads focus on the killing of usama bin laden. >> i thought to myself i hope that's the kale would have made. >> an on the economy. >> president obama has a plan to rebuild america from the ground up. that is what happened when i was president. >> the relationship hit bottom in the 2008 democratic primary

when mr. clinton defended his wife against the obama forces. >> i think they played the race card on me. we now know from memos and the campaign and everything they planned do it all along. >> things since normalized. >> i had a terrific meeting with the former president. >> president bill clinton. >> but some friction will always remain between the centrist who responded to routing in the 1994 mid-term te declaring an end to era of big government and incumbents who after a mid-term thumping of his own continue to assert the centrality of government in his vision of american life. >> president clinton famously head of the dlc tried to find common ground, bridge differences. we now live in a time the basis of the parties are highly polarized and tends to be for of an appeal to the party base, opposed to trying to reach out to the independents and so forth. >> bret: >> minutes ago we received excerpts of the speech tonight. he will say, "the most important question is what

kind of country do you want to live in? if you want you're on your own, winner take all society support the republican ticket. if you want shared prosperity and shared responsibility, we're all in this together society vote for barack obama and joe biden." less than four hours until the big moment. >> bret: we'll have it all. james, thank you. plenty of convention news to talk about tonight. with sindcated columnist charles krauthammer who joins us from washington. good evening. start with the big change we saw just earlier, just before the show started. the platform change. and the vote that was taken here in the hall. your thoughts about that, putting "god" and "jerusalem" back in platform. >> it was clear from the panicked response of izzat ibrahim al-dour --response of dy did not know how to respond. they are talking about it like they have no idea how it happened. words don't walk off a page.

it's clear. the dropping of the language supporting israel on jerusalem was a deliberate reflection of the obama distancing himself from his role which he said over and over. and second, the fact if you listen to the vote on the floor, it did not really pass. it had to go three times and it didn't. it's reflection of how strong is the vaunt israel sentiment within the party, the democratic party for 70 years was firm ally with israel in the fdr coalition. >> charles, we are getting word from the "associated press" that president obama personally intervened to change the democratic platform language on jerusalem and god. that is crossing the a.p. wire. it was important for the obama campaign to deal with this. >> if he intervened to how it reinstated how did he allow his platform to omit? i add all that was reinstated

is the language on jerusalem. they did not restate language isolating hamas, no return to the '67 lines. and the right of return. all of that is left out of the platform. quite troubling for pro-israel community. >> bret: charles, we have much more to talk to you about but we'll see you later tonight. thank you for tonight on "special report." don't forget tonight's text to vote question. how will bill clinton affect the obama campaign? text sr1 to 36288 if you think he will help. text sr2 if you think he will hurt. sr3 if you believe he will have no impact. results shortly. we talk with obama senior campaign advisor robert gibbs next. i've worked hard to build my family.

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call or go online today. after all, when you're going the distance, it's nice to have the experience and commitment to go along with you. keep dreaming. keep doing. go long. >> bret: welcome back to the democratic national convention in charlotte. we are going to talk about the channels facing president obama and the opportunities here heading to the final two months of what promises to be a difficult race. robert gibbs is a former white house press secretary. now a senior advisor to the campaign. thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> bret: first, the change of venue to here in the arena from the stadium. folks are saying it's weather related. some people say you would have had a tough time filling the seats. what is the truth? >> we would haven't a tough time to fill the seats but figure which of the 70,000 will now fill in here. i wish we could have had it

outside. i wanted it outside, everyone wanted it outside. we would have had a great crowd. in crowd we would have created good volunteers but folks that were around the area yesterday and last night, know the weather that moved through. we understand the logistics that it takes to move everything from here to there. if we start doing that and get 60,000 or 70,000 people in the stadium and thunderstorm blows through, you have real genuine safety concerns. out of an airman dance of caution we moved it -- abundance of caution we moved it back in here. no doubt we would have filled that place. >> bret: frantic call for 100,000 balloons in charlotte? >> after this, i have to blow up 2,000 myself. and it's going to -- i'm glad to use most of my wind here. it won't have any left after >> bret: excellent. tonight for president clinton, what are you hoping for? do you know what to expect? >> yes, we have been working with the president, with

president clinton, former president clinton for quite some time. we are anxious and eager for him to get out there. look, i think they have -- they came to office in analogous economic situations. at a time in which the economy needed real leadership. at a time in which we hadn't invested in research and education and innovation. we saw that with the right decisions that bill clinton made, the type of economic prosperity we can have. i think he is going to talk about the tough decisions that president obama had to make in rebuilding our economy. giving the middle class a sense of security. >> bret: but you know after the '94 election, president clinton clearly moderated and the whole triangulation, taking some of the republican ideas, running on it, for himself, president obama hasn't done that. even after 2010. they're not analogous in that point. >> maybe they are political tactics aren't analogous, but again i think the analogy you will hear the president,

president clinton make tonight is talking about coming in to office and dealing with an economy neglected and needed to be rebuilt. middle class security that people lack in the early '90s. they lacked when barack obama walked in the white house. we're on a journey to strengthen that security for middle class families. >> bret: but does president obama believe that the era of big government is over? as president clinton said in 1996. >> look, barack obama in 2004 at the democratic convention talked about we don't want to waste money on whether it was the pentagon or on welfare. nobody wants to spend anything more than we have to. i think one of the things that bill clinton taught us well, too, those that are doing better can and should pay their fair share. >> bret: era of big government is here. expansion of spending as a percentage of gdp increased dramatically under president obama. >> it's increased dramatically because we have had to deal with some of the economic problems that were left to us.

obviously, when we're in an economic downturn, you will spend more money on things to take care of people that unemployment benefits for instance. long-term unemployment benefits for instance, that keep people, sistance people. keep them in their houses, in their apartments and buying food. that also keeps the economy going. but somebody wants to spend more than we have to. this president already taken steps to get the fiscal house in order. the big question in this election is are we going to indiscriminately take an ax to the federal budget? and with it, do great harm to things like research and innovation and education, or are we going to do this in a reasonable and responsible way. >> bret: the question: are you better off than you are four years ago is more complex. like how do you feel about the next four years? are you optimistic? how do you feel about your life? three indicat indicator, you cat to things in the economy going the right way. but three indicators gas

prices when president took over $1.83. now $3.84. unemployment is now 8.3%. total debt public debt is $10.6 trillion and now $16 trillion. food stamps, now 46 million. those are four points. people i talk to here say that is cherry picking but those are four big points in how the economy was and how is it now. >> let's take a look at the unemployment. right? yes, we're -- the number is different than it was four years ago. but understand the journey we were on. when barack obama walked in the white house, the last month of the bush administration, we lost 800,000 jobs. i forget exactly what the number peaked at but seven months in to our administration, that number hit 10.3%. i think around 10.3. 10.2, 10.1. we've gone from 10.3 or 10.2

to 8.3. we are make progress and no doubt better off look at g.m. or chrysler. chrysler had the best month in a year, outselling honda. this is a complex question. we want to make sure we understand that the president is not satisfied. no one is satisfied because we have work left to do. >> bret: thank you for the time. good luck with logistics transferring everything here. >> blowing up the balloons. >> thank you very much. >> bret: we taped that earlier but late today after the reversal on the democrat platform language, chief washington correspondent james rosen caught up with gibbs again. >> i am not on the platform committee so i don't know what machinations were involved but i know spending eight years with barack obama i know how he feels and people throughout the hall feel. >> they just changed it. you're aware of the vote they

took? they felt a need to address this. >> again, for whatever the reason they want to change it, i think it's fine. >> bret: can the president come back? the president who was called comeback kid help obama come back to the mouse next year? what about the platform changes today. we ask all-stars when we return to charlotte after a quick break.

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i'll do that one more time. all those delegates in favor say aye. >> aye. >> all those delegates opposed say no. >> no. >> in the opinion of the chair, two-third voted in the affirmative. the motion is adopted. and the platform has been amended as shown on the screen. >> well, i can tell you if the narrative presented on your station and through your

channel and your network is that the democrats are godless people, they ought to know better. god is not a franchise of the republican party. >> so what i'm asking about the two changes, the two words, i'm just asking why. i'm not drawing conclusions. >> i know what is going on here. in an effort to justify the money shelby is spending in the name of standing up to israel, the democrats and the republicans are committed to israel's future and security and i'm one of them. >> i'm just asking -- >> present your evidence. present your evidence. >> i'm just asking the question what was the word taken out. >> i'm just telling you that you are harping on a trojan. >> bret: well, we asked for a state fire department -- statm senator durbin after they adjusted the platform. we haven't heard from the senator but we'll hear from the panel. jonah goldberg editor of national review online. charles lane, opinion writer for "washington post." steve hayes for "weekly standard."

steve, it has been quite a 24 hours. >> it has been. apparently you were not harping on like senator durbin said. it was a serious question. i think we still don't have an answer to it. we still don't know why the language was dropped. as charles suggested earlier and we talked about last night, these things don't happen unless there is a reason they happen. so there was some discussion about why this language should be dropped. there will be a change in policy. we don't know. taking a step back and looking at the big picture, if you have enter a political convention like this. there are basic rules. don't angeer the president. don't embarrass the first lady. don't put delegates in a position to booing god and jerusalem. especially on videotape. it's bad moment for democrats. it has to be included all of the coverage of the convention. i don't know if it will overshadow bill clinton. probably not. but it will be part of the story. >> bret: chuck, ed henry confirmed the "associated press" report earlier in president obama specifically intervened on the platform

changes. we understand that the platforms don't really define a candidate per se. but at least for this week, they are part of the story. >> people were learning here today that they don't do you a lot of good. if you mess one up they can do you harm. i don't know why the jerusalem thing was dropped out of the platform. it has been in there, boilerplate language for years. maybe it was a mistake. i tell you this, the republican platform is different this year on jerusalem, too. every republican platform since 1996 has called for the moving of the u.s. embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem. every one except for this year. it's not in the republican platform this year. wonder why? it could be an accident, oversight, plan, but these things happen. >> bret: i should add about ed henry reporting, he said the president according to senior aides, his response on

god taken out was why did it change in first place? on israel the jerusalem part, mitt romney was asked about that today. take a quick listen to that. >> i find it one more example of israel thrown under the bus by the president. for us at a stage like this to take action of that nature, to cease calling jerusalem the capital of the israel, this is a troubling development. one which will be recognized for what it is by people across america and across the world. >> bret: that was before the change here. jonah your thoughts on this? >> one thing we know about the platform, they are what the party rank and file want people to believe the party believes. whether or not they're binding or hold president account to believe them or anything like that is another matter. what i thought about this, we have had a press corps, political establishment for decades that has whined about how the things are scripted. no organic natural spontaneous

moments. we have had one here. just a simple news value that is a big, big deal. i think this is probably as someone earlier was saying unforced error. president obama, whatever he believes understood how incredibly stupid it was to do this on the god part. we saw they recognized it in the durbin childish outburst with you. they didn't have a good answer for it. he thought he could found the table and bluster through. >> bret: new york senator chuck schumer was asked about this and he said he thought that's what the democratic position was, that jerusalem was can capital. he said he didn't know the president's position and said you'll have to ask him. we heard earlier white house press secretary jay carney was asked about it a few weeks ago. he had a nonanswer to the question. is there an issue on a

specific point for administration? >> look, the president at some point will have to clarify yet again what the position is. you heard that jay carney danced around a real issue talking about it as a final status issue. not wanting to go where it seems they have gone. you could have a situation that white house is intention with the democratic platform. >> bret: we'll take a quick break and talk about president clinton big speech and what will happen tonight as the panel continues from charlotte, the democratic national convention.

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[ applausapplause ] >> obama! obama! obama! >> bret: the head of the black caucus firing up the crowd in charlotte. streaming online at foxnews.com. back with the panel about the big speech with former president bill clinton. what do you expect, steve? what does he need to do and what will he do? >> he needs to reconcile with his own administration to the case he will make with president obama. i found it interesting when you asked robert gibbs about the turn that president clinton made after the '94 election and the fact that president obama hadn't made a similar turn, gibbs didn't channel you on the claim. it's on, but it seems to me that he might want people to believe that the president is also a centrist. i think you are likely to hear bill clinton make a strong case for barack obama.

to talk about the continue knewty between their -- continuity between the administrations and lay the blame at the feet of george w. bush. >> bret: chuck, we hear all these stories about the angst between the two camps, about the person history here. we don't know if they are going to see the time draft. we expect he will, but he is writing it in long hand. is that part of the mystery and surprise to build up tonight? >> brings back memory of his "state of the union" addresses when he was president and still feeding them in the teleprompter at the last minute. he has been known to work up to the last minute. rahm emanuel, who was chief of staff to both of the guys told us all at breakfast bygones are bygones, he has worked through whatever angst is left over from 2008. and his purpose tonight really is to speak to all of those middle of the road voters out there. swing voters, wavering democrats, hillary people still left over from the 2008 primaries to bolster their support for obama and drape

obama a little bit in his own popularity. he has high approval ratings as ex-president. >> bret: jonah? >> i think the drama between obama and clinton is fascinating and great for history books but there is an expectation he will go off script and go gangster style and say clinton out. i don't think anything like that will happen. he will do a really excellent job. he is a great speaker. i think what he will try and do is laso his claims of techno credit expertise, that he knew how to turn the economy around, which is a bogus claim i think and say obama knows how to do it too. reassure people who get tired of the lofty rhetoric. >> bret: panel, thank you as always. this place is loud. as we head to break, let's listen in to emmanuel cleaver. on the other side, i'll have a preview of tomorrow night and what is left tonight. >> caucus for people who don't fit in to any other caucus. but let me just tell you, god did not burden the united

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